Entries in the 'Free Will' Category

Choosing a Name for a Child

559Question: Does the choice of a person’s name play any role? Where does a name come from?

Answer: Yes and no. The fact is that the name of a person is supposedly given by accident by his parents. Why the parents had a desire to give him or her a particular name seems to be their business.

In fact, the name speaks of the inner essence of a person. There is nothing random in the world because everything is absolutely predetermined! But we do not know that.

What if your name is so-and-so and my name is so-and-so? Our parents wanted to name us that, based on the circumstances, i.e., on the advice of relatives, or a young mother read a novel and wanted to name the child by the name of its character.

Let’s say the name Madonna or Diana is popular today. At one time, the name Angela was popular, and so on. It does not matter. The popularity of names does not matter. It is predetermined anyway. Therefore, any hint of anything contains an internal source.

Do you think you can guess the qualities or fate of a person by their name? This is unavailable to us unless you are Wolf Messing. It was enough for him to look at a person, and he immediately saw both his name and his fate. It is written down in nature but not for our use.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Choosing a Name for the Child” 5/7/11

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We Are Not Going to Become Good Kittens

600.02Question: There is a story of a watchmaker. His work requires a lot of attention, precise actions. But sometimes, while working, the index finger of his left hand begins to twitch and it is impossible to work in this state. What does he do? He does not massage his finger, does not take pills to relieve cramps. He calls his mother, who lives thousands of kilometers away, and tells her: “Mom, you’re worried about me again. Stop worrying, I can’t work because of you.”

Tell me, how do you feel about this? It does not smack of mysticism that, suddenly, there is such a contact?

Answer: There are such contacts, of course. Especially between a mother and child. The child understands that at this moment his mother is thinking about him.

Question: In general, how is it that by our actions or thoughts we can unconsciously harm a loved one, a close one? Why were we not given this understanding?

Answer: We must develop in order to come to this with our own good will, to want it to be so.

Question: Can I control my thoughts by realizing that they are harmful? Let us say if I understand this, can I control them?

Answer: This requires training. This is big psychological training.

Question: Can I understand that any of my actions affects my neighbor?

Answer: Yes, absolutely.

Question: Then, in principle, can the world change?

Answer: In principle, the world was created in order for us to change it.

Question: If I develop joy, if I constantly develop good relationships, if I only do this, realizing that it helps my loved ones, is this really the way to move, like this?

Answer: About loved ones, close ones, it is another question. Any person, even any villain, can have such thoughts about helping loved ones.

Question: But in general is the development of a thought in the direction of joy, of helping, possible or not? Is this state possible or will egoism not allow us to do it?

Answer: It is only if you exist in a very special environment. Otherwise egoism is still in us. And there is nothing we can do about it.

Question: If I just live in the world and do not live in the special environment, as you say of those who want to develop it, then do you think anything will work?

Answer: No.

Comment: This is not so good.

My Response: Do you want to artificially remake what nature has done?

Question: If a person is introduced to the understanding that he is harming, for example, people close to him, will it not change him?

Answer: If he is harming people close to him, then yes, but in general, no. That is, for some narrow circle of people around a person this may be effective.

Question: And why have we been blocked from understanding that we are harmful with our thoughts? I understand that the Creator, the upper force, blocked this thought from us. Meaning, I can think badly about something else without thinking that I am thereby upsetting the whole balance, for example.

Answer: Of course.

Comment: The balance of the whole world!

My Response: Worldwide.

Comment: A person does not have such a thought.

My Response: Because it is far from him. Where does he see it next to him?

Comment: Yes, he does not make such a bunch, dependence.

My Response: This is impossible for a person. If he could clearly see that by doing this he was harming his little child or some relatives, then of course he would not do it. But then the whole world would have lost 90% of its spiritual resources. What would we do then if we were such servile well-wishers?

Question: So are you not for this?

Answer: No, of course not! That we can just be good kittens?

Question: Then how do we get out of this hatred?

Answer: Only by rising above it, to be opposite to it. Then it makes sense to live, to exist. Otherwise it is just an amoeba.

Question: Rise above hatred, what does it mean?

Answer: To rise above hatred is to reveal in yourself more and more hatred for others and to rise even higher above it. Left-right, left-right, and so on. Where the left is evil and the right is good. To climb this way. This is the Sulam, ladder.

Evil is necessary. That is why the Creator says: “I have created the evil inclination, and you people, with the help of what I have given you, conquer this evil and balance it with good.”

Question: And will I add evil to you again?

Answer: Yes, this is already a process.

Question: This is the ladder: evil – good, evil – good? That is how we move. What is there at the end, after all this climbing?

Answer: At the end, all evil turns into the same good. We receive, so to say, a double good. Meaning the future of evil is one way or another to turn into good. Only thanks to our work.

Question: What if I want to destroy evil? I am a plain, normal person.

Answer: There is no way you can do that. Evil cannot be destroyed. You can only rise above it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/29/23

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Alternative History of Mankind

115.07Question: You say that people have to go through several lifetimes to start thinking about its meaning. Are they gradually accumulating this knowledge or are they beginning to feel that it is necessary?

Answer: Along with the growth of egoism, people accumulate the ability to understand the world more. That is, the mind develops next to egoism, but it is an egoistic mind. At the same time, it begins to form a person: “Don’t be too nervous. We’re not that smart. We’re not that strong. There are more forces in nature, and so on.”

Question: After people left Babylon, they followed the path of the development of egoism. Could there have been another way if they had become constantly engaged in spirituality?

Answer: It is impossible. The human development program was supposed to bring us to today. Everything that was meant to happen had to come true.

Only from this moment onward does freewill appear. Everything that has happened to the Kabbalistic group called the Jews up to today was necessary for them to reach their last fourth redemption and correction. The world has evolved to a global state. Now this group must pass on to the world the methodology of global connection.

Therefore, everything had to be as it was. I cannot imagine how it could have been any different in ancient Babylon.

At every stage we need to desire complete correction. And whether it will happen or not is no longer our concern. After all, even today we face obstacles unknown to us, and we have to think about the final correction. We must strive for it in the form in which we imagine it. Everything is very simple.

Therefore, do not invent and try to reveal what will happen. We must participate in this movement in full force.

I act as if today or tomorrow we will definitely achieve global correction, and suddenly we will break through and everything will work out. Why should I think that there will be problems, suffering, and only after that will humanity start pulling its head, come to its senses, and adopt a method of correction? Maybe it will happen now. And that is why I am acting.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Alternative History of Mankind” 5/7/11

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Is It Possible to Change the Influence of the Reshimot?

963.4Question: If a person suffers in this life, is it karma for bad actions in a previous life?

Answer: Reshimot, memories, records of the past, put pressure on a person and determine his present and future. But a person, by his behavior, can change the influence of these records from the past and make sure that they are perceived positively in the present. It all depends on us.

Question: What are these records, which in Kabbalah are called Reshimot?

Answer: They are information about past actions.

Question: Is there a Reshimo from future actions?

Answer: Since there are no future actions yet, there is no Reshimo. We have only assumptions about future actions.

Question: Where is this information data recorded, these Reshimot from the past?

Answer: They are written on our desires, which is called in our soul.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz of Kabbalah Tips” 5/18/23

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Why Study the Principles of Creation?

632.3Question: Does a person have the freedom to implement the principles of creation? Suppose I know that the principle that the world is one and some other principles. What can I do regarding them?

Answer: Nothing, these principles provide you with some understanding of the structure of the world, the creation, in which you exist and nothing more.

Based on these fundamental blocks (principles), it is already possible to shape a tactic of your behavior: whether you can or cannot improve your condition in some way.

Among these principles, on one hand, is the principle of freewill and, on the other hand, the principle of absolute deterministic development, which means the beginning, middle, and end of all development follows a strictly defined program.

By studying the principles of creation, you begin to understand where you have freewill, in which cases it is mandatory and only in this it manifests itself, how you can act to change something yourself, or whether you are completely subject to the upper force.

In other words, you proceed from principles that explain to you one universal law of nature, but from different aspects: relative to yourself, relative to society, and relative to the elements of development.

Then you can shape your relationship with the world, whether you have the ability to somehow influence the world or the impact it has on you to improve your condition.

Why do we need to know this? Just out of pure curiosity? No. We want to understand what lies ahead of us and how we can change something in our destiny.

There are rapidly changing events taking place in the world right now. And in a year or two, this speed will seem slow to us. In a year or two, the world will be rushing at such a crazy speed that today’s change of events will seem to us like the movement of a cart compared to a modern airplane.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Laws of the Universe” 3/27/11

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Origin of Names

627.2Comment: It often happens that a person changes his name or surname in the hope of changing his fate.

My Response: I do not take it seriously. Perhaps he will start behaving differently, but it is purely psychologically.

Comment: However, I noticed a pattern that people with the same names behave the same way as if they have some kind of program.

My Response: Maybe. I can agree with this.

Question: Is there any connection with spirituality in the fact that you were called Michael?

Answer: I do not know. I think I was named after my grandfather. This is a very ancient name that goes back to biblical times to the angel Michael.

Most of the names of mankind are of biblical origin. In general, these are Jewish names, only slightly adapted to other languages.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Choosing a Name for a Child” 5/16/11

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Fulfilling the Creator’s Plan

202.0Question: How can one find one’s purpose in this world?

Answer: I think that it is not simple at all. The thing is that a person is born in a specific environment that pushes him forward, and he changes under its influence.

The purpose of any person is to achieve correction of one’s attitude toward others. This is obligatory for everyone. You need to make sure that you treat others so positively that they treat you exactly the same way.

Question: If we are fulfilling the Creator’s plan, is man’s will in our world our illusion? Or is the will that we have to accept the current life situation?

Answer: If we are fulfilling the Creator’s plan, then we can perceive everything that exists as an offer from above to approach the future state.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips” 5/18/23

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Does a Kabbalist See the Future?

928Question: A Kabbalist perceives much more than an ordinary person in his five material senses. Do you see or feel what others consider miracles?

Answer: In our world, I do not see more than everyone else sees. I see sources and connections between things. And, let’s say, I do not see the future more than others.

The future depends on our correction. I cannot do some tricks and predict the day after tomorrow this and that will happen. No! It depends upon people who change every second. If they change a little, then tomorrow will look different. It does not depend on me.

Baal HaSulam wrote about what he thought he would see during his lifetime. But to this day it has not materialized. It is the same with Rabash. I heard from him such things that never happened, although he believed that they were being realized from day to day.

Question: Why is there some kind of attractive force in a Kabbalist?

Answer: Because he feels and knows more, wider, and deeper, but not about tomorrow.

He knows according to what laws tomorrow should be realized, but not in what form: good or bad. The whole picture that you see depends on this: either it will be, God forbid, war, riots, earthquakes, fires, or the end of the world, as they say, or it will be insight, revelation, understanding of what is happening, and unification. The Kabbalist does not know this.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is a Miracle” 3/6/11

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From the Level of Angel to the Level of Human

712.03Question: Why did the general system not reward us from birth with an altruistic perception of pleasure?

Answer: If we were not in our egoistic perception of pleasure, but in an altruistic perception, then we would have no resistance to it; we would simply exist in it.

We would be at the level of angels, that is, forces that exist like that, and we would have no comprehension, no sense of our own “I.” We would not be opposite to the Creator, we would not be personalities, we would not be creations relative to Him.

Precisely because there is opposition to our egoism in revealing the higher world, in revealing the state of bestowal, love, and connection with what is outside of me, with my friends, with their inner aspirations to the Creator, and there is the possibility of freedom, I therefore exist separately from the upper force and I do not obey it, I choose what to do.

If this were not the case, then we would simply automatically exist in bestowal, as we now automatically exist in receiving.

Now, we are also angels, only angels of death, who, with each of their temporary fulfillment, kill themselves, thereby bringing death closer. Otherwise, we would be angels of life, in other words, forces that simply exist in that volume of life and know nothing about themselves.

Comment: But if you say that the situation is much better than the current one…

Answer: No, not better. The angel of life is no better than the angel of death. Both are neither better nor worse; these are the forces of nature. There is no good and bad outside of a person when he decides whether to move forward or not. Outside of man, these forces are equivalent.

From these two forces, from their correct combination, each moment we build states that add up together and give us the image of “man” or “Adam,” which means “similar to the Creator.”

Question: When a great Kabbalist comes to a certain point of comprehension, does he wait for everyone else to comprehend?

Answer: He does not wait, he works on his own correction by helping others. As long as the others are not corrected, he feels like that too. No one can achieve complete correction until the whole world is corrected, so every Kabbalist has more to do.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is mind?” 2/21/11

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The Choice Is Ours

537In our movement toward the goal of creation, we can choose the best or the worst version of this movement. Either we will drag ourselves in shackles, driven by a whip, or we will go in a compartment carriage, on a good road, looking out the window at a beautiful panorama. That is a big difference.

But to do this, we need to participate in the movement ourselves, i.e., get into the carriage instead of trudging along the road in shackles. This means that I agree with the purpose of creation and that I want to achieve it.

I have to wish for it myself, and this is against my egoism. But I strive for it more than anything else in the world even if I had the opportunity to avoid it, so I have to come to a state of correct assessment of the goal, its understanding.

This work consists of making a person realize what the single force of nature is doing to him, how kind it is, how much by trying to change him from an egoist to an altruist, to an absolute unmercenary person, it wants to raise him to a perfect level. He begins to evaluate this perfection as the greatest gift.

Question: But whether he is walking in shackles or riding in a carriage car, does he still feel some pressure on his current condition?

Answer: No. He himself is remaking that terrible, dirty road along which he had to trudge driven by a whip. He lays the track to the train himself, he creates this train and all the amenities.

Question: Why is it impossible to walk in shackles if a person knows the principles of the universe?

Answer: No. “In shackles” means that he does not know the principles or does not agree with them and he does not want to change himself.

After all, the task is not to walk. “To reach” means to completely change yourself. There is no need to go anywhere. You will suddenly find that you have to be in the same place, that the road is in fact not a road but your internal changes that you have to go through.

Therefore, we must quickly create a methodology for correcting the whole of humanity, describe it as simply as possible, and distribute it by all means. The main thing is for a person to understand what is happening to him and the world right now, what kind of world he finds himself in.

If we want to see the world as kind and not as it begins to seem to us as very threatening and unpredictable, then we urgently need to understand what nature forces us to do.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Principles of the universe” 4/9/11

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